JoJo's Blog- Peek into my Life

Degrees of Separation

“Linked” is by far the best book we have read in class this semester. I have been thinking about the connections I have and the ones I need to make. I took a picture with Jerry Springer last summer because he came to this Lorain Democrat fair to promote John Kerry and I was selling memorabilia at one of the booths. Therefore you guys are all at least one link away to him now not that you guys would want to be. A friend of my uncles was on Maury so I’m one degree of separation from him. It is kind of weird that I have such close links to talk show host since they are criticized about the quality of their shows. I have a link to a Puerto Rican sitcom star but no one here probably knows of him. A link I would like to figure out is between me and Omar Epps. I know I can make it 1 degree of separation but I have to do some investigating. We are cousins through my father’s side of the family. I believe we are second cousins but I only know a small portion of my family on the paternal side since it is so large. I really need to go to a family reunion. Another odd person to be linked to is the guy from the Norton Furniture commercials. He’s the one that says, “If you can’t get credit in my store, you can’t get credit anywhere.” His commercials are pretty bizarre and always have a drawing of his facial profile. A guy I know that goes here went to his store and has a photo with him on his laptop so now you should all be excited about being 2 degrees of separation from him or one if you know him too.
The chapter that addresses the importance of acquaintances makes sense. I do believe friends come in handy too since not everyone has just 1 set. More than likely college students for instance may have a group of friends at home, at school, at work, and online. Even within school there are groups of friends you interact with primarily through schoolwork and others through clubs and the rest may be around for all social gatherings. Obviously there are different levels of friendship but they are still acknowledged as being more than just acquaintances. The formula given in the book that to figure out how close a group of friends is I found to be interesting. The groups of friends I have at Case and outside here do not necessarily combine to join one but they do have more than me to join them. Practically every friend that has come to visit me has run into people they knew and did not even realize went here. It is a small world indeed. My mom used to say that all the time when I was little and as I got older I started to understand. I just did not understand it as a network that was so intertwined.